


the perks of pineapple on pizza

by lesmiserablol



Series: Our Get Along Shirt [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, First Kiss, Fluff, Gay Zuko (Avatar), Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:33:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24983152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesmiserablol/pseuds/lesmiserablol
Summary: Everything registers in Zuko’s head all at once. He and Sokka. Sharing the shirt. In Sokka’s bedroom. For an undefined amount of time. He immediately glares at Katara, who is already smirking at him.She mouths “you’re welcome” and he shakes his head at her, hoping she will notice the panic in his eyes and take pity on him. When she had told him she would help get him with Sokka, he pictured something a little more planned out and a lot less stressful on his part.He should’ve known better.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Our Get Along Shirt [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1808308
Comments: 74
Kudos: 922





	the perks of pineapple on pizza

“How long have you liked him?”

“Three months. Well, that’s when I accepted it. It’s been longer.”

“Who else knows?”

“I think Toph has figured it out, but we’ve never really talked about it.”

“And what are you going to do about it?”

Zuko blinks. Katara is pacing on the landing in front of him as he sits at the bottom of the stairs in his apartment building. They are both still wearing their respective halves of the now torn “Our Get Along Shirt”, and she is guarding the only exit like a prowling wolf. “What do you mean?”

She stops to face him. “What are you going to do about your crush on my brother?”

Zuko rubs the back of his neck. “Uh, nothing? Wait until I can’t hide it any longer and a romantic confession bursts out of my chest? Hope he likes me back and makes the first move?”

Katara narrows her eyes. “Seriously? Is this how all gay people handle their feelings?”

Zuko opens his mouth to protest, but lets it shut after a moment. He avoids the question with another question. “Does he like me back?”

“I don’t know,” Katara says truthfully. “But it would make a lot of sense if he did.”

“What do you mean?” Zuko asks quickly. 

“Oh, come on,” she folds her arms across her chest. “Have you seen the way he looks at you? I’ve been a little suspicious, actually. And you should hear the way he talks about you when you’re not around.”

Zuko’s stomach is, for lack of a better term, full of butterflies. “Really?”

“I cross my heart,” she nods. 

He hesitates. “You aren’t, like...still mad at me for this, are you?”

“I was never mad,” Katara shakes her head, and at the doubtful look on Zuko’s face, she adds, “You were the one who started running away.”

“And you proceeded to yell at me the whole time and then chase me down these stairs.”

“Touché. But I wasn’t mad that you have a crush on my brother. I was more shocked, really. And I wish I had known sooner. Sorry,” she winces. “I guess I kinda overreacted.”

He shrugs. “It’s fine.”

“No, seriously Zuko,” Katara takes a seat next to him, and Zuko can’t help but glance at the now unguarded door. He doesn’t move. “I know our friendship started off...on the wrong foot, and you know just how to get on my nerves, but I really do care about you. I think you’re a great person, and as much as my baby sister instincts are trying to kick in, I think you would be perfect for my brother.” 

He matches her smile, then looks away to stare at the ground nervously. “You think so?”

“I know so. In fact, I want to help.”

His head snaps back up at that. “You do? What are you going to do?”

She stands up, already walking back up the stairs. “Give me a few days, I need to work out the details. Just trust me.”

Zuko feels uneasy, but he gets up and follows her. 

* * *

Katara doesn’t bring it up again, so neither does Zuko. It’s been over a week since the t-shirt incident when their friends are all gathered together again at the apartment that Sokka and Aang share and the question of pizza arises. 

“Alright,” Suki rubs her hand together, staring at all the topping options on her laptop screen. “What do we want on our pizza?”

“Get extra sauce,” Toph pipes up. 

“Extra cheese please!” Aang says. “And no pepperoni on my half.”

“Cream cheese,” Sokka adds. 

“Pineapple?”

Everyone freezes as Sokka slowly turns to look at Zuko. “What did you say?”

“I asked if we could put pineapple on the pizza,” Zuko shrugs. 

“Zuko, we’ve talked about this,” Sokka sighs with the air of a parent trying to patiently explain something to their child for the tenth time. “Pineapple does not, in any universe, for any reason, belong on pizza.”

“I like pineapple,” Suki says. 

“One problem at a time, please,” Sokka tells her. “Zuko, we have canned pineapple in the kitchen, you can put that on your slices.”

“It’s not the same!” he protests. “How would you like it if I told you to put your own cream cheese on the pizza?”

“I would deal with it!” Sokka says. 

“No you wouldn’t! You were pouting all night the one time you had to do that!” 

“It’s not the same! Cream cheese is good on pizza, pineapple is an abomination,” Sokka huffs. 

Zuko rolls his eyes. Sometimes, he wonders for the sake of his sanity why he had to fall in love with Sokka. “You’re impossible.”

“Uh oh,” Katara says from where she had been suspiciously quiet on her seat on the couch. “Are we not getting along?”

Aang, slumped against his girlfriend, sits up immediately. “I know just the thing to fix this!”

He and Katara exchange a look before he darts out to grab something from his room. When he returns, holding something in his arms for the whole room to see, Zuko groans. 

“Seriously? You guys got another one?” he complains, glaring at the words “Our Get Along Shirt 2.0” scribbled in black marker. 

“We had to get thrifty,” Aang admits, glancing at it. “Since you two broke the first one and cost us twenty dollars.” 

Zuko has many questions, including why on earth they spent twenty dollars on the first shirt, but instead he asks, “Why is it always me?”

“Maybe you should meditate, Zuko. Learn some calming techniques,” Toph suggests. “Then you wouldn’t have to worry about not getting along with others.” 

“You and Suki were screaming at each other last night over cookie dough ice cream!” Zuko protests. “There was no shirt then!”

“All water under the bridge,” Suki smirks. 

“Fine, let’s do this. If nothing else, it gives me ten minutes to educate Zuko on appropriate pizza toppings,” Sokka says, standing up and to grab the shirt from Aang and heading to the kitchen. 

“Actually, you don’t get ten minutes. You get however long it takes for you two to...get along,” Katara smiles. “And you’re not going in the kitchen, either, we need to set up for dinner. You’re going to Sokka’s room.”

Everything registers in Zuko’s head all at once. He and Sokka. Sharing the shirt. In Sokka’s bedroom. For an undefined amount of time. He immediately glares at Katara, who is already smirking at him. 

She mouths “you’re welcome” and he shakes his head at her, hoping she will notice the panic in his eyes and take pity on him. When she had told him she would help get him with Sokka, he pictured something a little more planned out and a lot less stressful on his part.

He should’ve known better. 

He finds himself being pushed toward Sokka’s bedroom and there’s a flurry of motion that ends in the two of them stuffed inside the shirt, the door closing behind their friends and leaving them alone in the room. Zuko glances around. He has been in here several times before, but never when it was just the two of them, with the door closed, sharing a shirt that feels smaller than the first one. The walls are covered with posters from Sokka's favorite bands and movies, the desk is littered with papers and text books, and the floor is surprisingly free of any discarded clothes. Even the bed is neatly made, for once.

If sharing the shirt with Katara was like sharing it with a particularly stubborn statue, then sharing it with Sokka is like sharing it with the Energizer bunny. He’s bouncing in place, the hand sticking through the sleeve tapping a fast pattern against his thigh. Zuko stays completely still next to him, hyper-aware of every point of contact between them. And there are many. 

“Do you...want to sit down?” Zuko asks, watching him warily. 

“On my bed?” Sokka asks suggestively, adding a wink for good measure, and Zuko flushes bright red. 

“Oh, never mind,” Zuko says quietly, looking away before he can see Sokka’s face fall. 

“Sorry,” Sokka mutters, now shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “It’s hard to stand still. I like to pace when I’m nervous.”

“Why are you nervous?” Zuko asks nervously. 

“Oh, no reason,” Sokka says, his voice a little higher than usual, and he clears his throat. 

Zuko glances at the door. “So, what was it you wanted to do with me?”

“Excuse me?” Sokka practically squeaks, and Zuko blushes again. 

“Not - no, I mean, what did you want to talk to me about? Pineapple on pizza?” Zuko asks, grasping for something to talk about to distract him from their current situation. 

“Oh, right,” Sokka says, sounding dazed. “So the thing about pizza is...I’m sorry, this will be easier if we face each other.”

He angles his body and Zuko mirrors him so they’re face to face, but since they’re sharing a shirt that also means that they are chest to chest, nearly even nose to nose. Zuko wouldn’t be surprised if Sokka can feel how fast his heart is beating. He tries to keep his face neutral as he meets Sokka’s gaze, but seeing the details in the blue of his eyes from this close is making it difficult to breathe. 

A part of Zuko’s mind registers that if one of them took a tiny step back, there would be just barely enough room in the shirt for them to not be pressed so close against each other. Neither of them move. 

“You have pretty eyes,” Sokka says lowly, and the butterflies that seem to only make themselves known when Zuko thinks about or talks with Sokka are back in his stomach. 

“So do you,” Zuko admits. 

“What were we talking about?” Sokka asks, glancing at Zuko’s lips. 

Zuko swallows. “Pineapple on pizza?”

“Right,” Sokka takes a deep breath. “Pineapple on pizza is...it’s crazy. It’s like, you already have this perfectly good pizza, what if you mess it up by adding pineapple on it? What if the pizza doesn’t want pineapple? What if the pizza doesn’t feel the same way and once you put the pineapple on it’s too late and things will never be the same?” 

Zuko’s breath catches in his throat. “You’ll never know unless you try. Maybe the pizza does want to add in the pineapple. Maybe it seems scary but it pays off. Maybe the pizza would taste better with pineapple. It’s a risk, but I think it’s worth it.”

Sokka’s eyes are searching Zuko’s. “We’re talking about the same thing, right?”

“Take the risk,” Zuko breathes. 

Sokka closes what little distance there is between them, the one hand outside of the shirt resting behind Zuko’s neck. Zuko lets one hand rest on Sokka’s waist, kissing back fiercely, reveling in the softness of Sokka’s lips. 

They break apart after several moments, their faces still inches apart, and Sokka smiles widely at Zuko. Zuko smiles back, then rests his forehead on Sokka’s shoulder as he laughs. 

“We just kissed,” he says. 

“Yep,” Sokka confirms. 

“And it was pretty amazing.”

“Oh yeah.”

“And we’re going to do it again in the future?” Zuko asks, lifting his head to look at him again. 

“Definitely,” Sokka nods quickly. 

Zuko can’t resist giving him another quick kiss. “Come on, let’s go tell the others.”

They walk into the living room, wearing identical dopey smiles, and their friends start to cheer immediately. Aang helps them take the shirt off, but they stay glued to each other’s sides, their arms around each other's waists.

“Our plan worked!” Katara beams, giving a high five to Aang and then, to Zuko’s surprise, to Sokka. 

“Wait, this was your plan, too?” Zuko asks. 

Sokka grins sheepishly. “When my sister cornered me last week and asked if I wasn’t telling her anything, I broke under the pressure and told her how I felt about you. She came up with the idea, Aang and I helped carry it out. Seriously, you didn’t recognize my handwriting on the shirt?”

Zuko looks at the shirt and sure enough, the scrawl of sharpie on the front is definitely Sokka’s. “I guess I was too distracted at the thought of being so close to you.”

“Bleh,” Katara scowls. “Don’t make me lose my appetite, Suki will be back any minute with the pizza.”

“So what do you think?” Zuko asks later, Sokka cuddled close to his side on the couch. Zuko is finishing his last slice, grateful for whoever decided to order the pizza with pineapple on half of it. “Maybe pineapple on pizza isn’t so bad after all?”

Sokka sits up enough to look Zuko in the eyes, his face serious. “Only in the metaphor where the pineapple is the romantic aspect of our relationship. I will never eat a slice of pizza with pineapple on it and that’s just something you’ll have to accept.”

Zuko sighs. “You’re impossible.”

“Good thing you still like me.”

“Yeah,” Zuko grins. “I do.”

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: this author does not participate in the practice of including pineapple on pizza. Gross.
> 
> Find me on tumblr! I have a [main blog](https://lesmiserablol.tumblr.com/) and an [Avatar the Last Airbender blog](https://bisexuallsokka.tumblr.com/)!


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